TABOR -- A Taxpayer Bill of Restrictions

Citizens for a Sound Economy(CSE) is pushing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Tennessee, Maine, Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire 

In 1992, Colorado voters passed TABOR and the effects were devastating.  CSE Chairman Dick Armey claims Colorado is a TABOR success story and an example for other states, but the evidence isn't there.

Right now, Colorado lawmakers are considering a Billion-Dollar TABOR Bailout, concerned citizens are suing the state because legislators are sidestepping constitutional spending requirements, and two out of Three in Colorado want to Change TABOR. 

TABOR was Devastating to Health Care In Colorado

• Colorado spent less than most other states on public health
• Colorado was below the national average in immunization rates
• Colorado was at the bottom in prenatal care
• Colorado had the highest rate of uninsured low-income children in the nation

TABOR  did not promote Economic Development In Colorado

• Colorado had a growing list of highway projects that had not been funded
• Colorado has lost more jobs in this recession than any but 3 other states. 
• In 2002, the per-capita income in Colorado fell faster than in any other state. 
• Unemployment in Colorado has more than doubled since 2000. (The annual unemployment rate in Colorado was 2.8% in 2000 and went up each year to reach 6.0% in 2003.)
• Even since the start of the recovery, only 4 states have lost a larger share of employment than Colorado, which lost 18,000 jobs in 2003 alone.

TABOR hurt Colorado

• The Bill resulted in a downgrade of Colorado bond rating, and analysts specifically blame TABOR for making the fiscal crisis worse.
• In a pair of studies in 1999, Governing Magazine ranked Colorado's finances as among the worst managed in the country, again due to TABOR.
• Colorado ranked almost last in state investment in the arts
• Colorado's 38 state parks in a bind, exemplifying how spending restrictions in TABOR harm state services in visible, physical ways.

Put simply:

                    “In hindsight, I wouldn't vote for it again.”

                                                -Colorado Republican Sen. Ron Teck

Click here to see more talking points on TABOR.

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